NutriSystem, Sun in evening spotlight

Mercury Interactive, Wright Medical on investor radar

By

KatherineHunt

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of NutriSystem Inc. surged more than 16% after the company raised its third-quarter outlook, while Sun Microsystems Inc. continued to command volume in the evening session Tuesday as the company provided some details on its collaborative effort with Google Inc.

The Nasdaq-100 After Hours Indicator, which tracks the evening action of the index's leading tech stocks, was up 0.29 points at 1,595.83.

NutriSystem
NTRI, -0.53%
shares gained $4.39, to trade at $31.20 in the after-hours session following word that the company now expects third-quarter revenue of $64 million to $65 million. The provider of weight management and fitness services had earlier forecast third-quarter revenue of $41 million to $43 million.

The company also lifted its outlook on new customers to 115,000 vs. 65,000.

Wright Medical
WMGI, -0.70%
stock also dropped $2.98 to trade at $21.15 following the company's forecast of third-quarter sales of $73.4 million, or $4 million below its previous outlook. It now sees third-quarter earnings of 10 cents to 11 cents a share.

The company lowered its sales view, and sales decreased by 10% compared with the year-ago period. Wright also revised its full-year 2005 sales outlook to a range of $315 million to $318 million and its earnings view to 66 cents to 70 cents a share.

Sun
SUNW, +0.10%
stock continued to give back gains after the close to trade at $4.19, down a penny from its closing price. Sun Micro and Google
GOOG, +1.24%
said that they've reached an agreement to promote and distribute their software technologies. Terms weren't disclosed.

The companies said they will look for ways to promote and enhance Sun technology. Sun also will include the Google Toolbar as an option in its consumer downloads of Java Runtime Environment. Shares of Google were changing hands at $311.69, up from the $311 closing the price.

Microsoft Corp.
MSFT, +1.32%
stock continued to trade in the evening session on word of the software partnership, trading at $24.95, down slightly from the $24.98 close. See full story.

Shares of Mercury Interactive Corp.
MERQE
fell $2.21 to $34.69 following word that an informal inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission has become a formal investigation. The company also cut its third-quarter revenue forecast to $198 million to $203 million, from $205 million to $215 million. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call estimate revenue at $211 million.

Lexmark
LXK
shares were trading up slightly at $43.70 after plunging by nearly 29% during the regular session. The printing giant warned that third-quarter sales and profit would be well below expectations due to weaker demand and stiffer competition from Hewlett-Packard Co.
HPQ, -1.92%

Shares of H-P were also flat at $28.55 in the evening session. See full story.

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